SelfControl
by J3SS
Summary: A look at Twilight through the eyes Carlisle and Esme. Follow them as they fight to do what's best for the family and as they fall in love with Bella, right along with everyone else. Though Edward and Bella, along with the rest of the family, will be in this story-it will be told from CPOV and EsPOV and focuses on their side of things, not the ExB side. Hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

I don't own the Twilight franchise; I just like to play with the characters because SM is awesome and lets me. Thanks for that.

Ch. 1

I smiled as I heard her walking down the hall. The hospital was loud, but I would know that sound anywhere.

"Hello, Mrs. Cullen."

"Hello Rachel, how are you today?"

"I'm good. It's been a busy morning, but it seems to have slowed down. Dr. Cullen forget his lunch again?"

I smiled. I could hear the smile in her voice too as she answered, chuckling.

"Yes. I swear, he can be so focused and ready to get here in the morning that he always seems to forget _something_."

Rachel laughed good-naturedly. "Well it's a good thing he has an amazing wife like you to bring it to him."

She had no idea.

They finished up their conversation and I cleared the smile off my face, returning to the charts on my desk and looking busy as she walked the rest of the way down the hall and knocked on my door.

"Come in." I said, not looking up.

"Dear, how silly of you. You forgot your lunch again." She said, closing and locking the door behind her. "And I thought you might be…hungry."

I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. Even after all these years, I was putty in this woman's hands.

_._._

Half an hour later we were sitting on the couch and my arm was around her shoulders.

"So, what did you bring me today, Sweetheart?" I ask, eyeing the lunchbox and sniffing carefully.

"A bunch of empty containers." She said, smiling.

"Oh, you know me too well." I replied, kissing her on the cheek.

Just then there was a light rap on the door.

"Come in." I said, glad that we'd remembered to unlock the door before moving to the couch.

"Dr. Cullen there's a—oh!" Sarah, one of the nursing staff said as she walked through the door and saw Esme and I on the couch. "I didn't mean to—I just—there's a—"

I smiled reassuringly. "It's okay Sarah, we were just catching up a little after lunch." I motioned to the lunchbox on my desk and Sarah eyed it, looking relieved. "Now what's going on?"

"There was a pretty bad car crash that's on its way in. Reports say the scene is a bloodbath, one of the passengers may have a severed leg and they had to use the Jaws of Life to get them out. Dr. Stern said he wouldn't mind another person on deck."

Es stiffened beside me at the term 'bloodbath' and I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"I'll be there in a second, Sarah. Thank you for coming to get me." I smiled at her reassuringly and she hurried back out into the hall just as the call came over my office speakers.

"Well, duty calls." I said, easily lifting Es off the couch and pulling her into a hug. "You probably want to get out of here before they show up—this one is probably going to be pretty bad. I'll make sure to clean up before I come home for Jas and the others but I might be late tonight." I leaned back and kissed her forehead.

She sighed and pulled back, looking me in the eyes. "Thank you. I don't know how you do it, but I'm so proud of you for it and I love you _so_ much."

I smiled. "I know you do. And I love you too. I'll see you tonight."

We kissed one last time and she was out the door, followed a moment later by me.

I paused a fraction of a second at the Emergency Room doors and took a deep, calming breath before pushing them open and entering just as the EMTs were bringing in the first of the wounded, and I was right. It was bad.

I just hoped that Es had managed to get far enough away that the smell wouldn't bother her.

~.~.~

A/N-So I promised myself that I wouldn't start anything else until MRS was finished—which it isn't—but this just wrote itself and I couldn't stop it. I can't promise regular updates, though it will be probably be easier to write than Dusk which means it will probably get updated more. MRS is still on for its regular updates. The reality of the situation is that the more I hear back from you, the more I work on that story. You want more of this, let me know! Besides that, your thoughts are just awesome and I love to hear them. =) Hope you all are having a better week than me, I came down with strep. Review and help me feel better? *sheepish grin*


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Twilight and I make no money from this story. Enjoy!

Ch. 2-

I got home late that night, tired by vampire standards and in severe need of a hunting trip.

Esme met me at the door as usual with a hug and a kiss. I poked my head into the living room where Emmett was playing some new video game and Jasper and Edward were building a card house. Both Alice and Rose were huddled around the computer, no doubt shopping. I greeted them and then chuckled as I made my way up the stairs to drop my things in the study. In a hundred years, things change, but they never really do.

"How did it go?" Es asked, following me into the study.

I sighed. "There were five injured, including two children, and we lost two of them—the driver who caused the accident and the child in the car that he hit."

"Oh, Honey." Es said, sympathetically as she sat down on the desk in front of me.

"Please just tell me that you got out of there before they started bringing everyone in." I said, laying my head on her lap.

"I did. I saw the ambulances on my way out but by that time I was far enough away that it didn't bother me." She said, running her hands through my hair comfortingly.

We sat like that for a few minutes, listening to our children downstairs before she lifted my face in her hands and asked if I wanted to go hunting. I let a small smile through before answering, "You always know how to take care of me."

"Yes well, that's my job." She planted a quick kiss on my lips before she hopped of the desk and headed toward the door. Turning her head back over her shoulder she whispered, "One of them, at least." low enough that they wouldn't hear down below.

I couldn't help the smile that took over my face as I watched her zip out of the room. "Oh, that's bad." I said, knowing that she could still hear me before taking off after her.

_._._

When we got home a few hours later we went to go sit down with the family. Alice was excited about something and Edward seemed slightly annoyed, though that wasn't unusual for him. He and Alice had a special relationship.

"So Alice, tell me what's got you so excited."

"The new girl, Isabella Swan is starting school tomorrow!" She shrilled, clapping her hands and bouncing slightly. Jasper smiled warmly at her, soaking up her enthusiasm. Edward still looked annoyed and Emmett and Rosalie were paying more attention to the game than the conversation.

"She's the Chief of Police's daughter, right Honey?" Esme asked from beside me. I put my hand on her knee and she smiled at me.

"Mmhmm, mmhmm—and she's going to be my new best friend!" Emmett just rolled his eyes and smiled but that got Rosalie's attention. She paused the game.

"What are you talking about, Alice." She said in a measured tone, looking around to face her fully. "We're not _friends_ with humans."

Rosalie didn't have any problem with the vegetarian part of our lifestyle but she wasn't really fond of interacting with humans. I wasn't sure if that was because she didn't trust herself or because she didn't see the point but whatever the reason, she hated that our interaction, however unavoidable, caused us to move every few years.

"We are with this one, I've seen it." She said, not letting Rosalie spoil her mood. Es and I watched, wanting to get the whole story before jumping in. Rose didn't feel the same.

"What do you mean you saw it." She spat.

"Well Rosalie, I have this gift where sometimes I see the futur—"

"Don't be stupid. What exactly did you _see_?"

"A few things, actually." She started to answer and Edward scoffed, his first interaction in this conversation. She glared at him and continued.

"Okay, a lot of things. I've been having these visions of this girl for the past few months, maybe one every two weeks or so. They're always different and they're short little snapshots, almost more like pictures than visions. At first I thought that it was just some human girl that I would run into shopping or something, because that's what we were doing, but then I realized that it was always the same human girl." She said, taking a breath before jumping back in.

"She wasn't someone that I recognized, I mean apart from the other visions so I pushed it off as maybe happening a while from now. None of the visions gave any idea of the year but _then_ it started going around school a few weeks ago that the Chief's daughter was coming and so I thought, maybe since I didn't recognize the girl it was her and so I hacked into her account at her old school and looked at her picture and the girl in my visions _was_ her! It's Isabella and she's going to be my best friend and you're all going to love her! Some more than others." She added the last sentence as a cough, but we all heard her, though had no clue what she was talking about. I must admit, that's something that we've all gotten used to when dealing with Edward and Alice.

"What do you mean 'some more than others'?" Rose said, glaring at her.

"She has this…_idea_" Edward spat the word at Alice "that this _Isabella_ and I will be friends too." Es made a little delighted sound next to me and I couldn't help but smile as well.

"Is that so?" I asked, turning my attention back to Alice, but it was Edward who answered.

"No, Carlisle. It's not so. It's ridiculous. The whole school's minds are filled with thoughts of this girl. She's already the most popular girl in school and she hasn't even shown up yet. There's no way that she would want to hang out with us when she can have all that, even if we wanted her to. _Which we don't._" He directed at Alice.

She glared at him and got defensive over the girl. "You don't even know her. She's different. And _I _do want to hang out with her." She said in a tone that very much said 'so there' without actually saying it.

"No. No no _no!_" Rose shouted, standing up and stamping her foot. "This is _not_ going to happen, Alice! That is so dangerous it isn't even funny. We can't have humans hanging around us. They could find out about us or one of us could slip—" she tried not to look at Jasper but her meaning was clear. Alice's eyes narrowed "—You are _not _going to put this family in danger just so that you can have another stupid little _shopping buddy!_" She was full on screaming now.

"That's enough." I said, standing up. "Sit down, Rose. We will discuss this like a family. One who loves and respects each other. And we will do it _calmly." _ As if on cue, a wave of calm settled in the room and Rosalie sat back down. "Thank you, Jasper." I said, following suit and grabbing Es' hand again for support. "Now—everyone please give your _reasoned _feelings about this situation and we will come to a consensus about what should be done."

"But—" Alice started.

"Alice, please." She huffed quietly but let me continue.

"Edward. I'm assuming that you knew about these visions already?"

"Yes, though I haven't seen them all. There are a _few_" He shot a glare in Alice's direction. "that she has been blocking for some reason or another."

"I see. Well, it's her right to her own thoughts. We've trusted her all these years to tell us when something is important, I don't see this as any different."

"Thank you, Carlisle." She smiled.

I smiled warmly back at her. "You're welcome. Now Edward, based on what you know, what do you think should happen?"

"I think that we should leave her alone. It's dangerous to have a human hanging around, for us and for them. She seems like a nice girl and I wouldn't want to have to kill her because she found out about us." Alice choked and Rosalie nodded, while their mates looked anywhere but at the conversation going on in front of them.

"Nobody is to lay a hand on this girl." I said, knowing that wasn't what he meant. "It's not our way. We just need to make sure that no matter what we decide—she doesn't find out."

"She wouldn't tell anyone even if she did find out." Alice said quietly, hurt.

"Now hun, ya know how dangerous that would be for everyone. You wouldn't want that, now would ya?" Jasper said in his light drawl. It was as close to disagreeing with her as he would ever get.

"You don't even know this girl." Rosalie said, obviously trying to stay calm and failing. "You have no way to know that she wouldn't te—wait a minute! You saw that she finds out and you _still want to be friends with her?!_" Rosalie stared at Alice, her face a mix of shock and anger.

"Now girls, I believe we were supposed to be hearing from Edward." Es said, trying to bring the conversation back under control. I smiled at her reassuringly before turning back toward Edward again.

"I know that we wouldn't kill her, but we can't pretend that the Volturi wouldn't. It's just not worth it. Sorry Alice." He turned to her and actually looked apologetic.

"Rose" I said, turning to her. "_calmly_, what do you think?"

"I think that Alice has already admitted that if this human _does _hang around her, she _will _figure out what we are. I can't believe that we're even still discussing this."

"It's how we do things in this family, you know that. And thank you for staying calm."

I turned to Alice. "Now Alice, _calmly—_what do you see here?"

She pouted, already sensing that she wasn't going to win this one. "I just want a new friend. She would be really good for this family and this family would be really good for her. We wouldn't even need to do much reaching out to her, it would be so easy and we click so well. And her wardrobe is in dire need of assistance. It's almost neglect to _not_ help her out." She gave me her best puppy eyes and I had to look away. She may not be my biological daughter but she still knew how to play me.

"Thank you. Now boys? What do you think?" I asked, motioning to the two that had yet to say anything substantial on the subject.

They took one look at each other before pointing to their wives to show that they agreed with what each of them had said.

Edward scoffed and said 'typical' under his breath.

"Hey now" Emmett responded. "You just wait until you've got yourself a girl. You'll see how it is."

"Yeah, and we'll be there to give you all the hell you've given us and then some." Jasper drawled, a smile breaking out over his face at the thought.

"Back to the topic at hand." I said, once again drawing the conversation back to its original topic. "What do you think, dear?" I turned my head so that I could look at my beautiful wife's face as she spoke.

"Well…" She looked down at where our hands were intertwined in her lap before looking up at Alice and Edward sadly. "As much as I would love another in our life, it just doesn't sound safe, Honey. For her or for us. But I'm going to leave it up to Carlisle—he has final say and we _will _do whatever he decides." She spoke with authority as she turned back to me. I love seeing the respect that our children have for their mother. They love her so much, and she does such an incredible job at loving and taking care of them in turn.

I took a deep breath, looking at Alice. "I think it's decided then. You all are to stay away from Isabella Swan. Do not be rude to her, but do not encourage a relationship with her either. Is that understood?"

"Good." Rose said, turning back around again and continuing her game. Edward nodded once and returned to the book he had been reading and Alice looked at me for a second before spitting '_Fine.' _ and leaving the house.

"I'll go calm her down." Jasper said, getting up. "We'll be back later tonight."

"Take your time." I said.

"And tell her we're sorry." Es added.

A few hours later when everyone had calmed down and was in their own rooms doing their own thing I turned to Es who was laying on our bed beside me. I trailed my finger in lazy circles on her stomach while she watched my face, waiting for me to speak.

"We did the right thing, didn't we?" I whispered.

She grabbed my hand and kissed it, responding, "We'll see."

~.~.~

A/N: So, there's chapter two as I promised a certain someone, right on time. ;) I hoped you all enjoyed it! This was a fun one to write. Next chapter: the kids meet Bella. Will Esme and Carlisle regret their decision to tell the kids to stay away? Tell me what you think!


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